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Pierrefonds to more than double size of its library

A project to more than double the size of the Pierrefonds library was officially given the green light Monday.

Pierrefonds-Roxboro council authorized a maximum expense of $3.7 million for the library and about $2.7 million for related new storage/administrative space.

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The cost of the project will be split among the province, Montreal and the borough. Quebec and Montreal will each pick up 40 per cent of the cost, while the borough will pick up 20 per cent of the tab.

About 25,000 square feet will be added to the existing 18,000 square feet of space at the library, said a borough spokeswoman Johanne Palladini.

The library, located on Pierrefonds Blvd. just west of Richmond St., opened in 1983 and has been deemed too small for over a decade now by local officials, with conference rooms and playrooms for kids having had to be converted into library sections years ago.

When it opened, the library served a city of about 40,000 people and had about 37,000 documents in its collection. Today, there are about 70,000 residents in the borough and the library has more than 200,000 documents.

The next step is to call for bids for an architectural firm to present designs for the new building, Palladini said.

The revamped and expanded library is expected to open some time in 2015.

Meanwhile, the borough has hired a contractor for a second attempt to dig a well at the library as part of a green geothermal initiative to heat the new expanded library building.

“As the building will be classified LEED gold, we must find natural and more environmental ways to operate it,” Palladini said. “So a well was dug to find natural heat coming from the earth to heat the building.”